Posts Tagged ‘fish fry’

Namio’s Sports Pub

Sunday, September 2nd, 2012

Isn’t the first rule of opening any business “location, location, location”? Despite being so close to Highway PD and Seminole Highway, Namio’s Sports Pub is set back behind other buildings and consequently is hidden from the road.

That may explain why in my three visits the place was dead. Once, for lunch, I thought the place was closed. Another, at 10:30 on a Saturday night, it felt odd to be drinking in such a large space with hardly anyone else around.

Despite the lack of patrons, Namio’s actually has pretty good food. You can’t go wrong with the steak burger ($7.99), for example. The flavor was wonderful and further enhanced by the cheddar I added, and the kaiser bun was soft yet strong enough to support the juicy patty. The accompanying sweet potato fries had the perfect ratio of crunchy exterior to soft interior.

I also was impressed by the fried fish (available beginning at 5 p.m. Friday), especially the crisp and light breading that was used. It did need just a hint of salt, though. I chose the hash browns with fried onions as the side and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Regarding the “sports pub” in Namio’s name, I hate that bars use the term so liberally. There are a few flat panel TVs scattered throughout the space, but I wouldn’t go here to watch a game unless I was too lazy to go downtown (or even BW3s just down the street).

Namio’s is open for lunch, dinner and carryout every day, with daily happy hour and nightly drink specials.

Namio's Sports Pub on Urbanspoon

A night at the Roxbury

Sunday, April 3rd, 2011

Road trip time! A 30-min drive north from downtown Madison will take you to the Dorf Haus and Roxbury Tavern in the Town of Roxbury, just off U.S. Highway 12.

Once housing a general store, the Roxbury Tavern serves breakfast on Sundays, lunch Fri-Sat and dinner Tue-Sat with different specials each day. For example, Tuesday is Mexican night and Wednesday is Italian.

Besides the main bar area, from which you can peer into the vast storage area in the back (not a good thing), there’s a dining area in an adjacent room. It was surprisingly dead on a Friday night (just two other groups, both of which had the fish fry), though I presume most people were down the block at the Dorf Haus.

The Roxbury Tavern has live music on occasion, accepts cash and checks and is closed for some reason on Mondays (what do the town’s 1,700 residents do that day?). To me, it’s just your run-of-the-mill townie bar.

Meanwhile, the Dorf Haus is a massive building–so much so that it seems out of place–and houses a dining room, banquet room, bar and game room. If you don’t get there by 5:30 p.m. for its Friday fish fry, expect a long wait.

I really like the fried cod, mainly because it reminded me of KFC’s original recipe. While it does not say all-you-can-eat on the menu, the waitress did let us know after we finished that we could have more (she said this to every table). The sides (fries or German potato salad, salad bar or cole slaw and fritters) were served family style.

While I did have my requisite Brandy Old Fashioned (sweet), I did feel obligated to order a beer while at this German restaurant, so I ordered a delicious stout that the waitress recommended.

I really want to come back for the Bavarian smorgasbord, which is served on the first Monday of every month year-round as well as the third Monday from June-October. I remember loving the fall-off-the-bone ribs in a previous visit many years ago.

Hopefully, I won’t wait as long between visits again.

    Urban Air TryaTaste

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